Habitat: Species is distributed on upland, fairly sandy soils; sand and gravel bars along streams, prairie swales, along railroads, and occasionally swales in woodlands. Species is distributed on upland, fairly sandy soils; sand and gravel bars along streams, borders of artificial and natural lakes, swales; along railroads and occasionally swales in woodlands.

ILPIN Notes:
Seed company no. 1. This can be a troublesome weed, especially in recently planted fields. Form - seeds planted between 1 April and 15 June at 25 lbs/acre drilled. Vegetative reproduction is by rhizomes and by the tubers. Terrestrial furbearers (especially squirrels) eat tubers as food. Roots = tubers. Scaly rhizomes and inflorescence identify this species; inflorescence with 3-10 broad involucral bracts; 1-several sessile spikes and 1-10 rays with spikes, spikes with long (6-30 flwrs); horizontal mostly, the scales of alternate flowers overlapping to give smooth spikelet outline - typical variety has 15 mm l, 1.5- 3.0 mm broad spikelets. Species is used as a starchy vegetable, flour, drink, and coffee substitute. Tubers and rhizomes for vegetative reproduction. Species is occasional but sporadic throughout Illinois. This variety has scaly rhizomes. Its spikes are narrower and larger, and its achenes are also narrower and longer, than those of var. esculentus.

Post: 09/2017
Is this species native to Illinois, according to the USDA plants website it is not?

IL Plant Response:

There seems to be a lot of confusion with named varieties of Cyperus esculentus in our area. Mohlenbrock (2014- Vascular Flora of Illinois) lists C. esculentus var. esculentus occurring in every Illinois County, but the Flora of North America treatment says this is an Old World taxa. Also, Wilhelm and Rericha (2017- Flora of the Chicago Region) list var. macrostachyus in the Chicago Region. According to Cyperus expert Gordon Tucker at Eastern Illinois University, the specimens he has seen from the Midwest are var. leptostachyus, whereas var. macrostachyus occurs mostly along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

The bottom line is that the very common variety (leptostachyus) is native to Illinois. Another variety may occur here or nearby (var. macrostachyus), but at this point it would be rare, or possibly introduced.

As a species, this common sedge occurs nearly worldwide. In the Midwest, it usually occurs in disturbed areas like wet spots in crop fields or along the margin of wetlands and streams. Look for the distinctive rhizomes/stolons that end in tubers to identify it (this is the nut part of nut sedge that can be seen in the image here and others above, https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4jvvuRQu7l1djVtRFM2Q1gwUGc ).

The genetic variation within this species no doubt contributes to its diverse behavior, forms, success, and regard among people and places. It has the distinction of being a prized food crop in some places, with var. sativus having been a cultivated plant since at least 2400 BC in Egypt. At the same time, due to its aggressive nature, it is has been labelled as -The Worlds 16th Worst Weed- and -The Menace to the Belt-, (for an excellent description of this species, see Rothrock 2009).

This is the most common of all Cyperus in Illinois. The primary mode of spread and reproduction is via the stolons, which can form tremendous vegetative colonies that are clones. It also sprouts from the tubers, since they persist underground, even when the plant is pulled out by its roots. Unlike some of the other common and similar looking of the so-called -bottle brushed- or -flat- Cyperus in Illinois (e.g., C. strigosus, C. erythrorhizos, C. odoratus), C. esculentus seldom produces seeds (achenes) because it is self-incompatible.

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